Amusement device



Sept. 4, 1923. 1,466,963

H. N. RIDGWAY AMUS EMENT DEVICE Filed April 27, 1921 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Fig.1.

lnvenTor.

Sept. 4, 1923. 1,466,963

H. N'. RIDGWAY AMUSEMENT DEVI GE Filed April 27, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet2\nvenTor.

HerberT NRidgwuy WM wxjivmm Affys.

Patented Sept. 4, i923.

aeaaee HERBERT n. RIDGWAY, or wnvzrrraor, MASSACHUSETTS.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

Application filedAplil 27, 1921. 7 Serial No. 464,840. i

To aZZ whom it may concern: Be it known that I. Hrnnmzr N. RIDGWAY, acitizen of the United States.

and a resident of inthrop, county of Suffolk State of illassach'usettshave invented an 1111-,

provement in Amusement Devices, of which the following description, inCOHHQCt-lOllWlth the accompanying drawing. is a specification. likecharacters on the drawing representing like parts. i 7

This invention relates to" amusement devices of that type comprising arotatable platform and one or 'inore'passenger cars operating on saidplatform and constructed to travel freely in any direction, said carsreceiving their movementby or through the rotary movement of theplatform. 7 In some amusement'devicesof this type the rotatable platformis surrounded by a stationary platform or spillway which is arranged sothat as the rotatable platform ro tates the cars are thrown ofl onto thespillwayby centrifugal force. ment devices of thistype the spillway isarranged at an inclination so that the cars will gravitate back onto therotary'platform after the centrifugal force by which'they are thrownoutwardly has expended itself, 1

One feature of the presentinvention re lates to a rotary. platformhavinga novel construction by which the cars travelling thereover willbe given a rocking movement during their travel thus adding to thepleasure and excitement, which the' passengers experience in the travelof the car. This rocking motion may be imparted to the cars in variousways but preferably by male ing the surface of the platform .with raisedportions and depressed portions thusgiving a more or less sinuouscontour to the platform. The travel of the carover the raised portionsand depressed portions will cause the car to have a rocking motion whichsimulates the rocking motion of a body on the water. 7

When my invention is applied to an amusement apparatus in which therotatable platform'is surrounded bya spillway, one feature of theinvention'relates to an arrangement of raised portions by which the timenecessary to develop the required centrifugal force to throw the carsoff ontothe spillway may be considerably reducedand thisisaccomplishedby arranging the raised portions so that they help toovercome the inertia of the cars as the rotatable platform.

ter thereof. and

appended claims 7 rotatable platform.

In some amuse? this latter type is starts to rotate so that the carswill turn with the rotatable plaform until sufficient centrifugal force15 developed to throw them onto the :spillway;

Another feature of my inventionrelates to a rotatablejplatformconstructed so that the cars naturally gravitate toward the cenaresilient bumper which causes the cars to rebound when they strike it.

In order to invention I have illustrated in the drawings some selectedembodiments thereof. which will now be descrlbed after which pointed outin the the novel features will be Fig. 1 is. a cross sectional Fig. 2 isan enlarged Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-8, Fig. Fig. 4% is asection on the line 4- 1, Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a rotatable provided at the center with view ofan amusement apparatus embodying my invention.

plat

give an understanding of my- I planview 0f the 1 form showing adifferent embodiment of 7 my invention. 7

Fig.6 is a section on the line-6+6, Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a section on theline "('7, Fig. 5. Fig. 8is a plan view of a rotatable plat form showingstilla different embodiment of the invention.

F ig. 9 is' -a section on'the line 99,Fig. 8.

My invention may be embodied in an amusement device in which the carsare confined to the rotatable platform or in an amusement device inwhich provided outside of the rotatable platform so' that the; carswhich are thrown from the platform by centrifugal force may pass on tothe vspillway.

United States No. 1,279,911 dated September 24, 1918 and in Figs. 1 and2 I have shown my present invention as applied to this type of amusementapparatus. In said figures, 1 indicates a rotatable platform which is"constructed to rotate about its center'and is supported on a circulartrack 2,

said platform being rotated by any suitsuch for instance 'as a m0tor3.geared to the platform by means of a spillvvay is An amusement device ofV illustrated in my patent,

stationary platform 8 which is also shown as inclined upwardly from astationary platform to its periphery. I

6 indicate passenger-carrying cars each adapted to contain a pluralityof passengers and each constructed to travel freely in any direction.Each car is preferably circular in shape and is surrounded by a buffer 7as usual in amusement devices of this kind. I

- The parts thus far described are, or'ma-y be. all as shown in my priorPatent No. 1,279,911 and in the operation of the device the cars (5 willnaturally gravitateftoward the centerof the rotatable platform and asthe latter is rotated they will be thrown by centrifugal force outwardlyonto the stationary platform 8 which forms a spillway. As soon as thecentrifugal force with which the cars were projected off from the rotaryplatform has expended itself the cars will gravitate back toward therotatable platform.

In accordance with my present invention I construct the rotatableplatform 1 so that it will give thev cars a rocking motion as well asthe outward motion due to centrifugal force and this 1s preferablyaccomplished by providing the surface of the platform 1 with raised.portions having sloping sides over which the cars may travel, saidraised portionsforming between them val leys. The movement of any carfrom one valley over a raised portion and down into the next valley willgive the car a rocking motion while it is travelling over thesurface ofthe platform.

In Fig. 2 these raised portions of the platform are indicated at 9 andthe valleys between the raised portions are indicated at 10'. In theconstruction shown the valleys are at the same level as the main body ofthe platform and the raised portions 9 are raised from said platform.

These raised portions may extend in various directions without departingfrom the invention and as illustrating one possible arrangement I haveshown them as having a general radial direction. In Fig. 2 the raisedportions extend radially but terminate a distance from the periphery 'ofthe disk 1 and the outer ends of the'raised portionsare preferablyrounded or pointed somewhat as shown.

When the rotatable platform 1 is at rest the cars will naturallygravitate toward the center thereofiand will also gravitate intothevalleys 10. hen the platform 1 is r0- .tated the cars'will besubjected to centrifugal force which will increase as the speed ofrotation increases until the cars are with the p atform but at the sametime any car which. is in one of the valleys will be acted on by one ofthe raised portions which will tend to move the car around with theplatform until the centrifugal force is suflicient to throw the car overonto the spillway. As the cars gravitate back ontothe rotary platformfrom the spillway they will pass over some of the raised portions 9 andthus will be given a rocking motion. Moreover where thereare a pluingmotion which is exhilarating and in creases. the pleasure which thepassengers derive from their rides. in the cars.

I regard this radial arrangement of the raised portions 9 as verydesirable in the construction shown in Figs. 7 wherein a spillway 8 isemployed outside of the'rotary platform 1 because in this constructionthe said raised portions 9 tend to overcome the inertia of the cars'when the rotary platform begins to rotate thus causing the cars torotate with the platform especially instead of allowing the platform toturn around under the cars. Where the cars are thus compelled to rotatewith the platform 1 and 2 l the time required in which to developsufficient centrifugal force to throw the cars outwardly onto the'spillway is very greatly reduced over that which is required where therotary platform has a smooth surface,

such as shown in my above-mentioned Patent Woreoverthe rotaryarrangement of the valleys 10 is an advantage in'that it tends to guidethe cars in a radial directon as they are thrown off from the rotatingplatform. In Figs. 5 to 9 I have shown constructions embodying myinvention in which the cars are confined to'the rotary platform and thisis accomplished by placing a wall 11 just outside'of the rotary platformas shown in Figs. 5 and 7 or by placing such a wall on the periphery ofthe rotary platform I as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. In either case the carswill be confined to the rotary platform.

The extent and direction of the raised and 7 they are shown as extendingfrom r the center clear to the periphery of the platform. While. theradial arrangement of these raised portionsis that which I prefer yet Ido not wish to be limited to such an arrangement any arrangement ofraised portions which as my invention contemplates i will provide arocking motion to the cars as they travel in their inderterminate pathover the rotary platform. 4

Another feature of my invention relates to the provision of a bufferlocated centrally of the rotatable platform and which acts to cause anycars gravitating toward the center of the platform to rebound more orless. This buffer is shown as a post '12 rigidly secured to the platform1 at the central portion and surrounded by a resilient buffer. Thisbuffer comprises a resilient ring 14 surrounding the post 12 and spacedtherefrom by suitable springs 15. This ring is sustained in position bymeans of suspenders 16 attached to the top of the post.

I claim: 7

1. In an amusement device, the combination with a rotary platformturnable about a vertical axis, of a plurality of passengerca-rryingcars thereon and each adapted to travel freely in any direction, saidplatform having an unobstructed surface in a radial direction wherebythe cars are free to travel radially by centrifugal action as the platform rotates, said platform also having means to assist in overcomingthe inertia of the cars as the platform starts in rotation thereby toquickly develop suificient centrifugal force to throw the cars to theouter periphery of the platform.

In an amusement device, the combination with, a rotary platform, of aplurality suflicient size to receive .of passenger-carrying cars thereonand each adapted to travel freely in any direc tion, said platformhaving radially-arranged raised portions with valleys between them of Vthe cars.

3. In an amusement device, the combina- 1 tion with a rotaryplatfornnofa stationary spillway encircling the platform, and aplurality of passenger-carrying carsneaeh adapted to travel freely inany direction, said rotary platform having radially-arranged raisedportions with valleys between them of sufiicient size to receive thecars whereby said the cars'in the ugal force is onto the spillway.

n anamusement device, the combinavalleys until sufficient centriftionwith a rotary platform, of a plurality raised portions will retaindeveloped to'throw the cars of passenger-carrying cars thereon and eachadapted to travel freely in any direction, said platform having raisedportions thereon over which the cars may travel thereby to give the carsa rocking motion. 7

5. In an amusement apparatus, the combination with a rotatable platform,of; a

plurality of cars thereon each adapted to travel freely in any directionand means to to have a rocking motion as. they pass over the platform. 7

cause said cars Intestimony whereof, I have signed my name to thisspecification.

HERBERT N. RIDGWAY.

